Instructional Hierarchy

Learning happens in predictable stages. Initially, we acquire new understanding and ability through instructor guidance. Then, we get faster in our ability to do something as we practice, often choosing between different strategies based of their efficiency. We must be able to maintain those skills and concepts until a time comes to generalize them across contexts and adapt them to learn something new or solve a novel problem.

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Learning Happens in Stages

Learning Happens in Stages

Acquisition
Proficiency/Fluency
Maintenance
Generalization
Adaptation

Instructional Hierarchy

Instructional strategies only work is used when students need that type of support. The Instructional Hierarchy helps to identify learning in stages and be able to make instructional choices that support students.

Acquisition

Students in the acquisition stage of learning a skill will show performance that is slow and inaccurate. At this stage, it is important to provide direct and explicit instruction that includes demonstration, modeling, guided practice, and immediate, specific, corrective feedback. Modeling using concrete mathematical manipulatives such as base ten blocks, two-sided counter chips, or algebra tiles, can be helpful to support students in the acquisition stage.

Proficiency

When a student’s learning progression falls within the proficiency (or fluency) stage, that student is demonstrating accurate but slow performance. At this stage of learning, students need a high number of response opportunities to increase their speed and accuracy with the skill. They need less frequent feedback at this stage. Establishing goals, paired with motivational strategies like self-charting of progress and reinforcement, can effectively help students increase their fluency with a skill.

Generalization

Students at this stage are fluent with skills and have been able to retain the skill long enough to apply it in various contexts. Instruction is focused on helping students apply the skill or concept in different situations and with word problems. At this stage, provide students with activities that include varied levels of difficulty and cues to generalize skills. The level of feedback and adult support is faded.

Adaptation

At this stage of learning, students can solve novel problems through adapting skills and concepts they previously learned to new and unique situations in different settings. Instructional techniques that are most helpful for this stage of learning include providing students with novel problem-solving tasks (i.e., higher-order math tasks) and providing them with performance feedback on concept and skill application as well as their problem- solving strategies.

Maintenance

In this stage of learning, students sustain their accurate and fluent performance on a skill or concept across time. Students in the maintenance stage of learning benefit from independent practice, goal-setting and feedback, and cumulative review. Research also refers to this stage as “retention.” Research on retention practice indicates that the way in which we have students practice can be more or less productive. To make retention practice more productive, students should practice in ways that strategically arrange problems, force an attempt to recall information without external resources, and provide feedback that supports metacognition.